Discussion

Doomie's Vegan Home Cooking. Named by a cardiologist?

Break out the Lipitor. Doomie's does not proffer vegan as health food but the results are a guilty pleasure and the place is really amiable. The server was sweet and helpful and managed the big room by herself cheerfully and efficiently. She recommended the fried chicken. It came with a nice salad with Italian dressing although I'm vaguely curious about their vegan take on 1000 Island and ranch. There were two pieces of chicken and the one resembling a leg actually had a little stick in it. I suspect ethical vegetarians would find this revolting but I thought it sort of cute. The accompanying mashed potatoes were very good but the roll was of the airy commercial variety. I think they're striving for Colonel Sanders more than Wolfgang Puck so I get the point. My husband's Philly cheese steak also came on a mushy boring roll but the beef strips didn't have that gnarly taste like most beef substitutes and the accompanying sauteed onions and peppers were terrific. The fries were excellent.

Everyone in our party said I was too hard on the desserts but to me the chocolate cake was gritty with a weird aftertaste. The other dessert had some fancy schmancy name I don't remember but it was essentially strips of puff pastry layered with bananas and raspberries and some cream stuff. Great pains were taken with the presentation of the desserts but I just wasn't blown away. Next time I'll try one of several different cupcakes which looked good.

We brought our own beer and that was fine. Be warned that on weekend there is a $6.50 charge to park at the Doomie's mini mall. At around 7 p.m. we had little difficulty finding street parking. The dog in front of Doomie's apparently belongs to the owner and is very angry, perhaps not an aficionado of vegan cuisine.

It's in the mini mall and in the space that used to be the empanada place. Although I didn't love the desserts, I really did think the food was excellent and I will be back the next time I finish a 10K.

I live 3 blocks from Doomie's. I've been there three times, and I must say it feels too expensive while possibly missing the point of why people choose to be vegan entirely. Most of the menu items contain highly processed meat and/or cheese substitutes that will likely leave your digestive system completely baffled. I don't think it should be the goal of a vegan (or vegetarian) to find something that looks and tastes like chicken to replace chicken. If you crave chicken that badly, eat it. @Layne: when I ate there, my experience of the fries was that they tasted like they had been previously frozen (tip: try the fries at Pita on Vine next door: they're fresh cut daily and, amazingly: they're somehow cheaper). The list of ingredients on their "chicken" likely reads like an organic chemistry lab manual. I agree with @Chowpatty: M Cafe is amazing, and the menu items are actually good for you. For the same price as a faux southern fried chicken meal at Doomie's, you could be eating a life-changing veggie burger with sides as delicious as they are pretty at M Cafe; the kale lemonade will blow your mind.

When I read things like thi I am always struck by what Anthony Bordain wrote in A Cook's Tour when he was in Berkely eating with a lot of the leading lights in veggie and vegan fare - not a single one of them could cook a vegetable.

@ocshooter: that's really funny, yet sadly believable. There's another vegan restaurant in the neighborhood called Cafe Muse on Santa Monica/Wilcox Pl whose menu is plagued by the same sort of mindset. If I'm going to pay a higher price to get a vegetarian meal, I would appreciate some options besides soy protein that's been disassembled, bleached, dyed, and reformed to resemble meat at a factory in Godonlyknows. I'm personally quite burnt out on tofu, as well. Black beans are high in protein and fiber, and are cheap and easy to make into burgers on premises at any restaurant. There are Indian restaurants that somehow manage to make entire vegetarian menus that are actually good for you--and without using any soy! Then there's Caribbean food, Ethiopian food, Thai... None of these cultures seem to need to have meat-looking items in their vegetarian fare. Also, the last time I checked we were in Southern California. I'm always shocked at the variety of produce that's cheap and readily available--we're really quite lucky in that regard. I would love to see more restaurants getting creative and competing to see who can make SERIOUSLY healthy, exciting meals that don't break the bank.

Veggie Grill has a number of salads and some burgers (my favorite is the portobello burger) that are relatively inexpensive. The sweet potato fries are my other favorite. Oh and I like the new chocolate chip cookie (the old version wasn't chocolatey enough). All vegan.

I heart M Cafe, but one time I had a chocolate cake there that was kind of dry and gross.

I went to Doomies once in the original location and after one extremely greasy, disgusting meal, I've never been back.

I change my mind on Veggie Grill's chocolate chip cookie. They taste very unchocolatey again. I guess I was hitting a streak for a while where the cook was generous with the chips. My cookie this week had two chocolate chips in it. Two.

I think it is us meat eaters that are amused by the need to replicate meat textures in veggie food. After all, we can have all the comfort dishes we want, while those with a restricted intake need to replicate them. That said, if you are going to go vegan, then embrace it and go with it. I have cooked with tofu before (willingly even), I just don't need to pretend that it is chicken.

There is an interesting idea at work at Doomie's, I think. When I went there, it was to meet up with a fairly large group, most of them vegetarian or vegan. Doomie's felt like, and maybe it was the context, a casual place for veggiefolk to bring their omnivore friends without them facing too much disappointment. We also had several recent converts, si they were happy for the indulgence of a "pulled pork" sandwich or the like, which tastes good but has no actual meat.

As far as the food was concerned, I had the mac n cheese and it was pretty good (albeit a bit thinnish in the sauce). It wasn't anything mindblowing, but solidly tasty considering I generally tend to like cheese in my cheese dishes. Everyone else seemed pretty content with their food. Would I go back? Maybe not if it were just The Boss and I, but I could see maybe for another such meetup of varied diets. Everyone there was really friendly and helpful, which made for an overall positive impression.